The estimate was given by the governor of the Brazilian state Minas Gerais, where the disaster took place

Fotos produzidas pelo Senado

The village of Bento Rodrigues after the disaster. (Credit: Senado Federal/Wikipedia.org)

Samarco is reportedly expected to face a definitive settlement of $19.06bn (R$100bn) for the 2015 tailings dam disaster in Brazil.

The estimate was given by the governor of the Brazilian state Minas Gerais, where the disaster took place.

In an interview to Reuters, Minas Gerais governor Romeu Zema said: “The expectation is that the agreement is around 100 billion reais.”

The settlement estimate is nearly four times higher than an initial deal that was reached miner Samarco and owners, BHP Group and Vale in 2016.

The deal resulted in forming a foundation to focus on developing and executing socio-economic programmes for victims of the tragic dam burst in 2015.

Minas Gerais governor comments on the definitive settlement comes after the lead prosecutor of the task force for the disaster told Reuters earlier this month that the previous agreement reached with the mining firms was not effective enough.

The prosecutor also floated a benchmark value of $29.9bn (R$155bn) for a future settlement.

On 5 November 2015, a tailing dam constructed in the Brazilian village of Bento Rodrigues, collapsed following a massive fracture, resulting in flooding of nearby towns.

The dam was built for storing iron ore waste coming from the operations of the Samarco mine operated by Samarco Mineração.

Zema said that final settlement would take into consideration the agreement signed with Vale for the 2019 Brumadinho dam disaster. The Brazilian mining company agreed to pay $7.17bn for the settlement of the disaster.

According to the governor, the Brumadinho settlement has led to the availability of funds for wider development projects in Minas Gerais.

Zema was quoted by the news agency as saying: “As it is at the moment, in 50 years still nothing would have changed, but if we do it as we’re proposing, things will get better quickly.”